Hearing of how overused the word "Trope" is reminded me of how many times I hate seeing people using the word "Banned" for anything that wasn't officially banned to begin with (as if anything that simply hasn't been out in the public eye for a long time), but with the way the net can spread these rumors and viewers perceptions on the matter, it's hard to reason with the idiocy at hand.

It was interesting to hear that you guys had a lot of the same answers I did. Also I agree with should emphasis individual shows over genres.

As far as the Muv Luv Alternative Total Eclipse anime, I'm enjoying it but I would recommend it to others with some caveats. Firstly the budget is admitted very small so it can look pretty rough at times. The first blu ray set has shown that they are fixing a lot of the bad parts though. Second the show started off kind of uneven where the first two episodes introduce the world of Muv Luv Alternative but then fast forwards a few years to focus on test pilots developing the newest robots. Also the male lead, Yuuya "Jeff" Bridges" is a bit of a drip for the first few episodes but has changed his attitude for the better. Also the show switched directors so there's been some stylistic shifts. All in all the show really picked up when they got to Russia which is around episode nine. I don't think the earlier episodes are a slog, just that they show some issues of an inexperienced staff trying to make a show.

Sometimes I think it's not that I love mecha, but just that some of my most favourite shows happen to be mecha shows. :P

I enjoy the goofy aspects of the early Macross, but Macross 7 still grates on me, because it's just a little *too* goofy. I also don't think SDFM needs a remake; I'd like for the creators to keep moving forward and making something "new", even if it's saturated with themes and ideas from the older material (not something I support, either).

I guess with Milia it's the question of whether you give her story a pass for being better than what came before, or if you still want to judge the events of the series on their own. I know that she could've been a lot worse, but the way that Milia falls for Max is still pretty creepy.

I don't really see the female Zentradi as superior to their male counterparts, since they're not that explored as characters except for Milia and Laplamiz, and there's little skill difference. Obviously they're better than any useless female pilot from earlier mecha series, but I don't see it transferring to a general superiority.

I don't like Macross: DYRL for personal reasons, but I do respect it as a film; however, if I liked it, it'd be more as a supplement, a way to get the story of the first Macross if you didn't have the time to rewatch the series in full. It's just hard for me to consider a shortened film adaptation as a replacement for a full TV series, because I don't see it as a matter of cutting out the chaff and leaving only the really good stuff. Censoring the Blu-Ray release of DYRL sucks, though.

And it also sucks that with the Yamato remake, along with several original series, adding more female characters to a cast, or having a primarily female cast, is apprently only for the purpose of fanservice. Lesson learned.

I'm not tired of the word "trope" just yet, but yes, discussing "tropes" comes down to just listing things that happen in stories, and not discussing *why* these things happen, so it's disappointing.

Best American mecha series? I'm going to have go with Exosquad: love it. Also I love Transformers, but I'm not certain if sentient robots count, and I don't really respect the Transformers cartoons, much as I love some of them. Beast Wars was good, and my personal favourite, but it still had a lot of flaws.

Jeremy is Captain Semantics! He would wear a cape, but it doesn't serve any practical use in crime fighting! Why is he called Captain, anyway? He never served in the military!

For Americans, at least, when you're talking mecha anime, people think you're talking about robots, and it's usually piloted robots. If you were discussing mecha anime with anime fans, would your bring up Initial D?

TV Tropes is a cesspool. That's not my totally informed opinion, but I heard a podcast about the behind-the-scenes goings-on of that site, and it's ridiculous. From what I heard, the guy who owns the site has a "no negative criticism" policy, but that is only for shows like MLP: Friendship is magic, but people can be negative about things like literature.
Also, there were issues with the users saying creepy things that would make you want to wash your eyes out with acid.

I'm glad all I know about TV tropes is that it's littered with all this meme babble and numerous hyperlinks for single page.